It’s around this time of year when it all starts to feel a tad bleak – shuffling out of the office at 5pm; out into darkness starts to prey on the optimism of your average, humble young adult. To compound the misery induced by this daylight saving malarkey, the live music scene takes a considerable, discernible turn, as our saturated summer of festivals slows to a drip, before seemingly drying out altogether. You can imagine our delight, then, w…So on & so forth…

For around a half a week nigh on each and every year since 1971, Little John’s Farm, Richfield Avenue has played host to the estimable Reading Festival. And this, so it would seem, has recently become the natural habitat of the aspiring alpha male – fluorescent adolescents pumped up on protein shakes, their biceps akin to those of a bionic Popeye. With Sharpie permanent marker catchphrases tattooing his underdeveloped, if muscularly defined tors…So on & so forth…

“A lot of people are not translating their music to a live setting at the moment; they’re just making records, and then doing playback from Ableton. They do a few things over the top, to add another element, but there’s a flatness to that. You’re not standing on the precipice then – there’s no risk. I mean there’s that risk of your computer crashing I guess, but it’s very different to playing live.” Those the words, in no uncertain terms, of Ry…So on & so forth…

As much as I’ve admired The Knife, ever since I first pilfered Deep Cuts from the peripheral depths of my parents’ record collection, their Shaking The Habitual tour – that took in two nights at the Roundhouse last summer, and presented me with the opportunity to catch the notoriously elusive Karin and Olof Dreijer for the very first time – was not only one of the defining disappointments of 2013, but also one of the most deflating experiences o…So on & so forth…

…ong to song. He may profess to having sequenced the songs in such an order on purpose on record, although if the live show plays into that same dynamic, then the arc is that bit more traceable onstage; it becomes all the more readily discernible… However, with that said, to establish an overarching mood is still pretty taxing: “It’s taken a lot of trial and error to get to the point [at which] I know that this is how you do it live. I could…So on & so forth…

Famed for his collaborating with maudlin American sweetheart, Zooey Deschanel but fawned over in these rather more low-key quarters, it’s little surprise that M. Ward had little trouble selling out north London’s Islington Assembly Hall. And, on a resplendent, if sweltering evening, the likes of Fuel For Fire and Chinese Translation sustain the adulation that the Californian songsmith commands these days. Barmen and women scuttle, flustered, bet…So on & so forth…